The Midnight Dimension
by mychem2006
Summary: Rachels life is pretty much routine, but its far from perfect, only when she discovers freedom, can she discover who she really is. The people she meets have secrets, and so does she, but will she learn the secret that could save her and her friends in ti
1. The Beginning

Wonderful colours arose from a blue flame, electricity flowed around the room, touching every area, light or dark, making it known. Familiar language reached out towards me, I could see each word winding its way through the air. An overdoes of emotions clouded over me, feelings of joy and happiness, I was drunk with them. How things can change. A black cloud started to arise, and cast away the happiness, the familiar language hid from it, the beautiful colours were blackened. The emotions scattered, and in their place, feelings of hatred, of pain and suffering. The dramatic change in atmosphere caused mayhem, I could no longer stand it. My energy disappeared, I could see it being taken, it flowed from me like water in a river, gushing away to freedom. Previously gentle eyes, turned to terrified, I could see the soul behind them, shaking with fear. The light I had always seen in them, gone. I witnessed evil at its most finest, and I knew history tends to repeat.

The sun shone through the sides of my curtains, glared into my eyes and told me that the morning had come. I must have had only five hours sleep, but lucky for me I didn't need much.

I got up quickly, daytime was the only time that I got to myself so I made the most of it. Apart from making the lunch, and dinner , doing the washing and tidying up from the party last night, I had the rest of the time to do as a pleased. I hopped into the shower, then grabbed my pills for the day.

All the chores took me till lunch time, I had five minutes left to myself. I quickly laid the table then hurried to my bedroom, waiting.

I soon heard people come in, they didn't make it hard for me to hear them. I started cleaning up my room, not that I had much, my bedroom contained, a bed, a wardrobe and shelves. None of the contents of the wardrobe or the shelves belonged to me, I don't think I owned anything in this house, not that it bothered me much, I had pretty much gotten used to everyday life being like this. As quickly as they came, I heard them leave again, then, once I was sure they had gone, I returned to the main room to tidy their mess, ready for their return that night. This was turning out to be a normal day, I don't even think that this day was any different to any other previous days I had ever had, well, not since my mom died.

As I was pondering this thought, a heard voices in the corridor outside, see we lived in a flat, a very big flat, it had 4 bedrooms, but still, the walls were thin, so I could hear most of what they were saying,

'This girl, Rachel, she's 14 years of age, but there is no records of her being alive. Neighbours have complained of loud noises, consisting of screaming, shouting, and what can be described as physical abuse. This is one of the many calls I have made to the house, and I have come to know this family quite well, there are 6 boys, all older than Alicia, and her mom passed away from an overdoes when Alicia was only 3 years of age.' the first man said, I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation, instead I hide under the bed in my room, as I had been told to do in case the police or member of the public had knocked on the door. I heard them trying to get somebody's attention, but I knew I had to be silent. They waited for about 15 minutes, then decided that they should come back later, which is exactly what they did.

My father and brothers had come home, and I was just finishing the dishes from the meal I cooked them, when they returned. I opened the door, and I saw two very different men standing there. The first was very old, I recognised him from my mothers funeral, and from the number of times he had called previously. The second man was a lot younger, in his early twenties. His hair hung over his face, just about covering one eye. He was quite tall, for me anyway, it appears they were studying me as well, because nothing was said for a while.

'Who the hell is that?' my father asked,

'Mr Sanders, we would like to ask your daughter a few questions, may we take her outside for a few minutes?' the younger officer asked,

'No you may not freakin take my daughter out of this freakin house!' he yelled, I stepped out the way as he stormed towards the door. He slammed it, the shock still on the faces of the police, he spun around, 'Get to your bluddie room!' he yelled, chasing me away from the door, I did as he said and returned to my room once again, thinking about the punishment I was about to face for what I had done.

The next morning was pretty much the same as any morning. I awoke early, prepared breakfast, then, returned to my room, waiting for peace.

The thoughts from last nights punishment still flew through my head, I knew, deep down, that something in my life had to change, I just didn't realise how soon that would be.

After they all left, my work on the house began. I started in the main room, as it was the largest, cleaning up after breakfast. As I am not normally interrupted, hearing voices at the door again startled me, and caused me to drop the plates, making a crash on the kitchen floor. They knew that somebody was in the house, I couldn't hide under the bed, I had to face them.

Shaking wildly, I slowly walked towards the door, as an impatient police officer stood the other side, banging continuously. I slowly opened the door, careful to hide recent bruises under clothes.

'Hey ma'am, we have a warrant for this address, so if you would step outside, we will be outta your way in no time.' the police officer told me, pushing the door slightly. I didn't recognise him, he was a newbie to this address. I did, however, recognise the two police men from yesterday, hanging around in the background.

I shook my head slowly, still in slight shock from what he had just said, not that he noticed this. Luckily for me, the policemen who I recognised stepped forward, having dealt with my family before, he knew how to handle the only female on the house.

'Hey darlin, I know your dad has told you some things, and we would like you to tell us the things he has told you, and what its like living with him, your dad wont mind if we just talk, we don't even have to enter your house, we can talk out here, if that makes it easier.' he told me, with the other officer still pushing the door slightly. I knew that while they were here, my dad couldn't do anything, but when they left, I knew what would happen. I, however, always break rules, it was in my blood to misbehave, so of course I let them in, well, I let the nice officers in anyway, the newbie was told to watch for my dad.

I showed them in, offered them drinks, of which they refused, instead they sat me down, and asked me what I was scared of.

'Becoming my mom' I told them, knowing they had no idea what I meant. The officer looked confused, then he slowly started to see what I meant, he saw the bruises on my skin, he knew what was happening in this house.


	2. New Life

'Rachel!' a male voice yelled from downstairs. I slowly wondered out of my dream, and rejoined this world.

'Rachel! Are you up?' the voice yelled again,

'Yeah' I sort of screamed back, still adjusting to my surroundings, recovering from my nightmare. I grabbed my clothes and shuffled into them, scrapped my hair into a loose braid, and headed for downstairs.

'You ok?' Christopher asked when I entered the kitchen. I gave him a slight nod, and sat on a bar stool, noticing some documents on the counter top.

'We getting another kid in?' I asked, living in a children's home, a new kid came roughly once a week, generally one left every week as well, so the number of kids stayed the same, give or take.

'Yeah, coming here tomorrow, only a little dude, his mom n dad left him few months ago, been in rehab since.'

'how old?' I asked, eating the toast he made for me,

'5 next month.' he said, now pouring me a drink. Michael was one of the older kids in the home, like me, but he was leaving soon, he had his 19th birthday, even though you can stay here till 21, he wanted to leave, I was going to miss him, he had been my best mate since I came here, not living with him was going to be hard, he normally calmed me down after my episodes, I didn't know what I was going to do. I quickly finished breakfast the headed out to the den. This was where I usually wasted my days, since we were on school break. I sat down on the beanbag, and watched as the younger kids outside played tag. It was funny watching them chase each other and never getting tired. What felt like hours later, the phone rang.

'Rachel, can you get that?' I heard Michaels voice yell, everyone must have been out, so I grabbed the phone.

'Hello'

'Hey, is Lukas there?' the female voice asked on the other end, I knew instantly who it was,

'hold on Alicia, gotta grab him outta his bed' I joked, taking the phone upstairs and barging into his room. He was sitting on the window seat playing his guitar,

'your girlfriend' I said, running away from the intended hit he was about to give me. Alicia wasn't his girlfriend, but he liked her, so of course it was my right to wind him up about it. As I headed out the door, he started his attempt of a chat up line, I contained my laughter until I had closed the door,

'What you laughing at?' Robbie asked, he was slightly younger than me, but had come here at the same time, which made us feel even closer.

'nothing, what you doin today? I asked, following him down the stairs,

'meetin up to see the new Spielberg movie with Cassie tonight, other than that, nothing.' he said, walking towards the library. In this house, there is a separate room for everything, since it used to be a hotel, there are many rooms, most of which have been made bigger, but it was perfect for its new role. I turned off into the kitchen again, grabbed a drink then scuttled back upstairs.

I turned my music up quite loud, happy that could now make as much noise as I wanted. My kitten awoke, unhappy to be disturbed. He trotted over to me, winding himself through my legs. I sat down on my bed, and he joined me, falling asleep on my lap. I spent the rest of the day reading magazines, studying and listening to music.

'hey Rachel, get your butt down here.' I disturbed Bert again, and went to investigate.

'its your turn to help with dinner,' Lynn told me, chopping vegetables already. She handed me a knife and I joined her. Lynn was one of the workers we lived with, she never gave up on a kid, no matter how bad they got, she believes everyone needs a second chance, in the end, the kid normally gets annoyed and gives up from all 'talks' she gives us, and just changes over night. She started the school conversation.

'you looking forward to going back?' she asked me,

'in a way, I guess I cant wait to finally go to a proper school,' I had always been home schooled due to my childhood.

'at least you will have friends there, Robbie already attends, and Lukas is your age, and Rebecca.'

'what's that about me?' a voice came from the doorway. Rebecca was one of those girls who, looks wise, got away with anything. She was wearing her pjs still, however she wore them with both elegance and comfort. Her hair bounced off her shoulders as she came to join us.

'your going to be in my classes in September.' I told her, cleaning up.

'yeah, I must warn you about certain people before you go, stay well away from Martin Banks, he is one of those rich geek people, knows everything, and the Kyle family, they will try and hang around you, all five of them, just ignore them and they will forget about you.' she listed a few more people to stay away from, and others who I shouldn't even talk to because of their importance, even high school has a class system. ' oh and you will be called newbie for the first few days, but that will soon pass.' she carried on chatting about some more people, but I didn't hear her, the name newbie, I remembered that from when I was 14, three years ago, I had called a police officer that, when they took me away.

'Rachel? Hello? You in there?' a hand was waving in front of me.

'sorry, was thinking about something else, what?' I asked Lynn, still dazed by the memory of the name,

'carry these into the dining room,' she passed me a tray with bowls of different foods on and I carried out of the room.

Over dinner that night I couldn't stop thinking about what she said, I didn't understand why it bothered me so much. I cleaned up after dinner then headed for my room, I fell asleep still thinking about the memory.

I slept in quite late the next day, and was awoken by the games the young kids were playing outside. I stuttered across my room and lazily got changed. I decided I was going to pass this day helping the kids, since I had nothing else to do. I grabbed my phone and headed to the garden. Watching them all day took my mind off things, mostly the newbie comment Rebbecca made yesterday. just before dinner,I cleaned the kids up, then sat them down.

'hey Rachel, could you make sure the new kids rooms set up?' Ryan asked me, he was one of the male leaders who lived here.

I scuttled up the stairs to check on the room. The corridors were set out in age ranges. Children aged up to 10 on one corridor, then upstairs 10-15, then the older ones even further up. Leaders were spread out everywhere. I quickly found the room name I was looking for. I walked inside, the bed was made, a blue cover with light blue circles covering it. The wardrobe stood in one corner, and drawers in another. It was an empty room, it had no memories, not yet anyway. I quickly checked nothing was under the bed or in the wardrobe (other children had a habit of scaring new kids by jumping out from places) once I had done that, I left the room and returned to the dining room.

After dinner we cleared the table and waited for the new kid. The leaders wondered out into the hall, waiting for his arrival. After about twenty minutes, the doorbell rang. He met with the leaders first, then was led into the dining room. As he walked in, a strong sensation came over me, memories from my childhood replayed in my head, strong emotions were flying everywhere. I tried to ignore what was happening in my head, and focused on the young boy. He was small for his age, pure black hair, swooped to one side, he had olive skin and illumined eyes, I could see his soul behind them, I knew he had a strong will, I could sense it.

I attempted to get up to greet him, but my legs couldn't take my weight. I collapsed, watching people wash away like the tide, into white light.


	3. New Locations

**I know this chapter seems rushed, but i had to get the story moving otherwise it would go on forever, so, sorry if it sort of moves too quickly**

I awoke in my own bed, Bert sitting next to me, his soft voice, comforting me. I sensed someone else in the room, I sat up quicklyand the world went white again, and I felt my body crush the bed linen - - - - the sun was piercing my eyes, creeping through the cracks in the edges of my curtains. A soft murmur echoed around the room, created by the breathing of the fluff ball next to me. I shifted my head so I could see my room. Chris was sitting on my computer chair, reading, what happened to be, my diary.

'that book interesting?' I asked him, disturbing his concentration,

'I'd rather watch paint dry, even that's more exciting.' I knew he was messing, but the truth was I didn't need any drama, not in my life, not any more. He tossed my book on the floor and wandered around my room, finding himself on my bed next to me.

'you wanna talk about what happened? Or is it too top secret?' he asked,doing a hand motion which disturbed Bert from his nap. He stroked the top of his head, his eyes turning thin and soft.

'I don't know what happened, all these emotions came flooding at me at once, then I guess I fainted.' I told him, avoiding eye contact.

'well, I guess you've had some stress recently, no one is that worried about you, shows how much they care, ow' he said as I whacked him on his leg.'anyway. I thought you might like to know that someone is here for you.' he said, leaving Bert on my stomach and leaving the room.

'Mikey!' I exclaimed as the guy walked in. He was about 6 foot tall, towering over most people, including me. His hair was jet black, and his eyes were deep, like they were always in thought. I jumped up, knocking Bert onto the floor, his meow sounding grumpy. I jumped onto Mikey, clinging to him, I hadn't seen him in so long.

'Hello to you to.' he said, once I had been lowered to the floor again,

'Never leave me that long again, I missed you so much!' I proded him in the stomach,

'I got transferred!' he exclaimed,

'excuses' I said, attempting a straight face. We sat down catching up for a while, talking about the fun we had last summer. After a couple of hours, he halted the memories.

'I've gotta get going, the boss doesn't allow personal time often.' he said, standing up giving me one last hug.

'who is this boss anyway? You never say his name' I said following him down the stairs.

'he doesn't give us his first name, we don't even know what he looks like, we just get a phone call and he tells us what to do.' he said, kissing my forehead, 'it's the way things are done where I work.' he told me. I didn't want to let him go, but I did anyway, and with Chris's help, I managed to climb back to my bed and sleep.

I felt like I had a hangover the next morning, not that I know what one feels like, just, they way people describe them. My head ached, and I felt nauseous. I scrambled out of bed and fell into my en-suit. Most of the rooms on this floor had them to ensure we had privacy. After a hot shower I didn't feel much better, so I hobbled downstairs, ignoring the smell of food that made my nausea worse. I flopped onto the kitchen counter, in desperate need of pain killers.

'you feeling ok there?' a voice came from behind me,

'either get lost or get me some medication.' I ordered Lukas,

'fine fine, its not like you to get light-headed, you sure your,' I cut him off,

'just give me the dam pills before I deck you.' I said, reaching for a glass of water,

'you sure your not hung over?' he asked, seeming amused by my pain,

'I swear,' I didn't finish my sentence because at that moment a troop of social workers came into the kitchen fussing over the 'sick' child. I didn't remind them of my age, or that I wasn't really sick, just in pain, which wasn't made better by loud, piercing voices.

I spent the rest of the day in bed, sleeping off my 'hangover'. Everything was brought to me, food, drink, more painkillers, the phone when Mikey called.

'Hey, how's my little party girl?' he joked,

'I can hang up you know.' I replied,

'yeah, but you wouldn't' he laughed, 'listen, I can't come and see you yet, but I want to make sure your alright as soon as I can, ok?'

'sure, I mean, I'm ok, I'm not going anywhere soon though,' we talked for a few more minutes before we said our goodbyes and hung up. I thought for a while after about the conversation, he had seemed on edge, like he was scared, but not for himself, for someone else, perhaps me. I pondered this thought for a short while, then dropped it.

I rested completely for the rest of the holidays, and was, what I thought, prepared for school, what I didn't know, was how bad school can be.

It was already lunch on my first day, I had got 3 assignments, 2 papers and I had to read a whole book in a week. My bag weighed me down wherever I dragged it, and so far, everyone avoided me like the plague.

'I ask you, who the hell invented a place which makes guys bedrooms heaven?' I asked Rebecca as I sat down at her table.

'How's your first day going then?' she asked me, tucking into her potato salad without the potato, typical health freak, she never stopped dieting.

'If it went worse I would prefer hell.' I said bluntly, rooting though my bag to find lunch.

'do you need a locker or something?' she asked,

'O, now you ask me that?' I replied sarcastically,

'you can borrow mine till you get one if you like.' she said, holding the key in front of me. I gave her my most evil glare, took the key, and emptied my entire bag in the locker. When I returned I noticed a few more people had sat down,

'Rachel, meet everyone, these are the guys I hang with.' she said, telling me their names.

'You look kinda lost around here.' a guy called Adam said, eating whatever had been on the menu that day,

'I was kinda lost, its so bluddie big, a skilled map reader would have issues.' I told them.

'yeah, I guess it takes a while.' he smiled at me, one of those smiles that would normally make a girls heart melt, but didn't even warm mine.

I managed to get through the rest of the day, gathering more books, and by the time I walked through the gates at the end of the day my bag was overflowing, weighing, I'm sure, the same as a baby elephant.

'Yo, Rachel, over here!' I spun around to see Mikey sitting in his Ferrari. I jogged over to him, quickly chucking my pack into the back seat and sliding myself into the one in front.

'I've gotta run some errands, don't mind a detour home do you?' he asked, moving from his parked position,

'Nope, don't mind at all, glad to have a ride though, that bluddie bag.' I continued my story of the day until he started to slow down. We had turned into this old estate, half the houses were falling down, or fallen down. He slowly moved the car along the road, looking at each one in turn, examining it, then moving on. He stopped a few houses from the end, turned the engine off, and slowly got out of the car. I watched him walk across the road, and stand outside this house, watching the front door with anticipation.

He stood there for a few minutes, waiting. As I sat there, I wondered off, thinking about my new life, how much had changed in the past few years. My thoughts moved on to more recently, how I had watched kids in bad situations, make a new start. My thoughts wondered even more, back to a dream, of lights, words, and energy. I opened my eyes, unaware they were closed, I saw the dream unfolding before my eyes. The background was different, but the words, the language, familiar. I saw the constant flow of energy again, electricity flowing everywhere. I glanced over to where Mikey had been waiting, but he had gone, no trace of him stood there, no sign of a human presenceoutside or insidethe house.

I opened my door, and walked quickly across the street, still seeing the flowing energy. Observing the house, I noticed many older features, original windows, old fashioned knockers, stain glass in the door window, and a figure standing behind the glass, a figure that moved quickly once I had been seen, one that stood over me as I faded once again from this world, one that whispered,

'you've come.'


	4. The Explanation

The room I awoke in was colder than outside, a chilling breeze blew though the room, entering though tiny cracks in the structure. Lines of light shone as beams across the room, spotlighting certain areas. A picture came into view, the frame a dulled gold colour, the picture, split in two, diagonally. Half showed a man, the other a wolf. Scanning the room again, I noticed a table with bottles sitting on it, a bowl took centre position, with wine glasses either side, I counted seven altogether.

I tried to tilt my body to the left, but I felt restriction. Glancing down, I saw metal handcuffs pinning either hand and foot down. They felt tight around my wrists, creating blisters where they touched my skin. They were burning, gathering heat by the second. I struggled, attempting to slide out of them, but they closed tighter against my wrists, all the time gaining heat.

'if you relax they loosen.' a voice came from the darkened hallway behind me. Still processing his words, footsteps came up the stairs.

'She awake yet?' the voice was familiar, but from where I asked myself.

'Just, she refuses to keep calm though, they will scar her.' the first voice started to sound frustrated. More footsteps wondered over to right behind my head, a sighing noise came from the man. He reached out his hand, touching my hair with it,

'please, relax, I don't want this to hurt you.' still trying to remember where I heard that voice from, another man joined the room,

'ok, you've had you fun, let her go, she wont run.' this voice I knew,

'Mikey?' I called out,

'Do as they say, relax your body.' he told me, walking over. Not knowing what to do I started to panic more, the burning sensation increasing,

'Please, Rachel, calm down!' he started to get louder,

'Let her burn, if she's too stubborn to listen.' the first man said,

'Felix, enough.' Mikey demanded. He came closer, unlocking the cuffs with his fingers, and I wondered why he didn't flinch from the pain.

'They only burn intended victims.' he told me, reading my thoughts. I sat up on the table, getting a better view of the room around me. A small bedside table stood near the door, and a wardrobe in the opposite corner, the other men in the room were standing in shadows, but both were tall, one well built, the other quite thin.

'Rachel, we need to explain something to you.' Mikey said, sitting by me on the table, as he did this I jumped off backing myself against the wall.

'you sure she can be trusted?' the familiar voice asked Mikey,

'Adam, I trust her with my life, besides, its time she knew, she is a part of it now, she's been inside.' suddenly it clicked, Adam, the same person who was sitting with me today at lunch, whose words hadn't warmed my heart.

'Adam!' I exclaimed, 'What the hell are you doing? Does Rebecca know your playing sick games?' I asked, stepping closer to him,

'Mikey, get your girlfriend under control,'

'Excuse me! I'm not his girlfriend, I simply followed him into this house when he didn't come out, I followed...' I halted my words,

'You followed the light.' Felix continued,

'how?' I started to ask,

'Its time you sat down and listened to your friends.'

'These people, are not my friends, not any more!' I started towards the door, but Adam was quicker, he grabbed my waist with a tight grip,

'You go out there your as good as dead!' he said, struggling to keep me still,

'Rachel!' Mikey exclaimed, he walked around me, standing between me and the door, 'please listen to us' his words seemed honest and true, but, I didn't know what to make of any of this, the handcuffs, Adam and Mikey being here, the constant flowing of light around the top of the room.

'you see it don't you.' Felix said, shocking me, I stood still, looking directly at him. He stepped forward, his black hair shining at the red tips. His eyes were black, not dark blue or brown, black. I didn't question how I could see this well in this light, I just could.

'things aren't as they seem,' he said, ' for a starter, Mikey works for an organisation called ICUB, meaning the international council for unworldly beings, shorthand being the council. He travels, seeking new beings, and keeping the rules set centuries ago. He travelled here a while ago, when he first met you I presume, because of a power source. While here, he befriended you, and asked the council if he could be positioned here. They granted his wish, and as time went on he saw his preliminary prediction was correct, your not of this world. He found the power source, but to unlock it, he had to find the key, and, he believes you're the key. Adam and I are unwilling to believe this, since you are untrained and unknown to the council, until now. We have been told that other members are travelling here to attempt to unlock the power source, which means they had to be told of our new found being.' he stopped, indicating a noise downstairs. Adam started towards the door, but Felix beckoned him to stop. He left the room for what seemed like hours, then returned, followed by a rather large tabby cat. It jumped onto the table which was vacated, and sat down, holding his paw up. Mikey walked over to it, checking the collar,

'Its him.' he stated, and Adam and Felix nodded. I stood still, waiting to see what was going to happen. The cat jumped back onto the floor, standing on its haunches. The light that was floating around the top of the room began travelling down to the cat, entering at his heart. A white light grew from this centre point, soon I was unable to look directly at it. I shielded my eyes, feeling heat from the light touching me. I waited till the heat had gone, and I assumed it was safe enough to look.

I glanced upwards, first at Mikey, then at Felix. Completely confused I stood frozen, where I had just moments before seen a cat, a fully grown man stood. He was the tallest of the people in the room, his eyes reminded me of a full moon. He took one glance at me, then turned to face Mikey.

'This is the 'key' as you put it?' he asked,

'Yes, I believe she is the key, her power is remarkable, and she is untrained, with training, she will be a great asset.' he replied,

'just so I'm clear, this man, who was a cat, is he a member of this council?' I asked, not even sure of my own voice,

'Yes, Rachel, meet Jay, he is one of the highest members of the council.' Mikey told me, walking over to me, his face had worry all over it,

'Ok, that part I understand, now, is someone going to tell me where I can go to wake up?' I asked them all,

'She still doesn't understand.' Felix told Jay,

'I thought you were going to take care of it Mikey?' Jay asked,

'I was going to, I just, I didn't get time.'

'Excuse me?' I shook his hand from my arm, 'If you want to play games go ahead, call me when you've grown up.' I told Mikey, who had taken ahold of me again, this time, with a stronger grip.

'It seems we have a problem.' Jay stated, walking over to me, 'a very big problem.' his eyes opened up, further than normal. He walked over to the window, and I noticed for the first time how late it was, people were going to start worrying at home.

The moonlight shone brightly though the window, lighting up certain objects in the room, much like the sun had when I awoke. Jay was now standing directly in the moonlight, his head dropped.

I watched, as though it was a film, as Jays skin changed. It started with the colour, changing to a dark brown, then dark hairs began to grow, quickly, covering his arms like fur. His hands changed shaped next, turning paw like. His head still dropped, I could see hair growing on his neck, and over his face. As he lifted his head, I leaned back onto Mikey, his eyes were still full moons, but his teeth had grown rapidly, his nose changed shape, his ears moved to the top of his head, his whole body had changed, he now resembled an animal, his clothes draped around him.

'What?' I started, spinning to face Mikey,

'Werewolf.'


	5. Discovering Fate

Falling to all fours, the former Jay walked over to where I was half standing half leaning on Mikey, his soft paws making no noise on the hard wooden floor. He stopped, just in front of my feet, looking straight at me. This was too much, I could no longer think straight, I couldn't stop the thoughts flying though my head, werewolves, shape shifting, magical lights floating around the room.

'I want to go home,' I whispered to Mikey, still holding him with all the energy I had left. He nodded, glanced in Jays direction, then guided me to the door. I almost fell down the stairs, still holding Mikey. He sat me down in the car, jogged around to the drivers door, then got in himself. We drove in silence for most of the way.

'You cant tell anyone,' he said, still looking at the road,

'Like anyone would believe me,' I stated, coldly.

'you don't understand what you've seen tonight, maybe in time,' he stopped,

'you never told me why I'm so important, why you think I'm some sort of key,'

'its complicated,' that's all that he said, and for the rest of the journey we rode in silence. Many questions were asked at home, but I stuck to my story, that Mikey took me for dinner and we went back to his for a while. I didn't eat anything, what I saw that night made me feel nauseas again. I went upstairs, falling on my bed. I noticed Bert wasn't anywhere in my room, I gathered enough strength to walk into my en-suit, but he wasn't there. He never left my room, still only a kitten he would get lost in this house, the door had been shut, where was he? I asked myself. I searched my room for a half hour, looking everywhere.

'Looking for something?' a voice came from behind me, turning around I saw Adam standing in my doorway,

'Rebecca's down stairs, and no I haven't told her anything, and yes I'm looking for something,' I told him, going back to looking under my bed,

'It doesn't happen to be a kitten does it?' he asked,

'and you being all-knowing will know where he is?' I asked sarcastically,

'I know exactly where he is, right to the position he is in,' he said, smiling,

'ok, jokes over, where is he?' I demanded,

'right here,' he said,

'right where,' I asked again, frustration in my voice,

'where I'm standing, he's here,' he pointed down to himself from above his head, I was puzzled.

'cant you just tell me and get this over with instead of playong stupid games!' I shouted, getting more worried for Bert every second.

'I'm not playing, remember what Jay did,' he said, changing the subject,

'what, transform into a werewolf, your saying Bert is now a werewolf?' I asked,

'you're a slow thinking when you want to be, when you first met him I meant,'

'He was a cat, so your saying that Bert isn't a cat? He's a person?' I asked again, getting annoyed that he's playing games,

'you are cleaver then, but not just any person,' he said, smiling strongly,

'your telling me that you're my cat?' I asked bluntly,

'the one and only!' he walked over to my bed, sitting on it like he owned it,

'Ok, look, I've been told a lot of things today, but seriously, you thinking I would believe that you're my cat?' I slowly faded my voice, because, where Adam had been, a white light had flashed and now appeared Bert, safe, healthy, but still, my little kitten I had recently adopted from the street. I walked over to my bed, still amazed by what had just happened.

For whatever reason, Adam stayed like Bert for the rest of the evening, and, to my knowledge , though-out the night. I left for school the next morning, my wrists still red and blistered from the previous day. I waited for Mikey outside my house, as usual, and he drove me to school, again in almost silence except for the greeting and parting. Adam wasn't in school that day, so I decided to question Mikey on it when he picked me up, although I wasn't set on getting a detention for an hour after school for not handing in work I had been set the day before. I asked Rebecca to pass on a message, then went to detention.

The hour passed slowly, all the time thinking about what went on yesterday, the old house, the handcuffs, the light, Adam and Mikey being there, Jay appearing, Jay becoming a werewolf. All this was real, even when Adam became Bert, I know I wasn't dreaming, I had a feeling. I wondered out of detention, feeling lost, knowing that my life was going to get a whole lot more complicated. I saw Mikey's car waiting for me in its usual place, I jogged over to it and jumped inside.

'I knew you would get in trouble,' he told me, as I put my seatbelt on,

'its because of you that I got in trouble.' I told him about the lack of work I did,

'you followed me into that house, that wasn't my fault,'

'You took me there!' I argued,

'Well, ok, both of our fault, but it turned out ok, I couldn't pick you up on time anyway, so it worked out well.'

'did you know about Adam and Bert?' I asked, changing the subject slightly,

'Yes, he was sent to watch over you when I first discovered who you were.' he said bluntly, speeding up significantly,

'you know, you can slow down here, your way over the limit,' I told him,

'Yeah, but I cant slow down, the accelerator is stuck to the floor' he said, strangely calm,

'stop joking around, come on quit it!' I started to get scared,

'I cant help it!' he yelled as we hurdled down the hill. We were gathering speed, doing almost double the speed limit. I knew what was at the bottom of this hill, I had been careful of this hill since I started driving. We turned the loose corner and it came into view, the river.

We used to go swimming in the summer in the river, until a young boy drowned, since that, we have been both too scared and forbidden. The water was black, and no one had ever touched the bottom. As we got closer, I saw the rapids we used to avoid, the sharp rocks would rip apart anything that came in contact with it. We were now metres from it, my heart racing more than when Jay had changed. The car was jolting from where Mikey was pulling on the hand brake, he guided the car left, then took a sharp turn right, the car glided sideways directly into a tree.

'Rachel, hey?' I lifted my head, 'that looks bad, we should get you somewhere to get cleaned up.' I felt someone lift me out the car and place me on some grass. I was blocking out the pain, using the light around me to numb the places it hurt. Soon enough I had blocked a lot of the pain and was able to sit up.

'You look dreadful,' Mikey said, smiling sitting at the side of the road,

'You're a real charmer when you want to be, you know that,' I replied, hiding my smile,

'you look better than you should, you hit your head pretty hard when we crashed,' he faded his voice out,

'I used the lights, they helped me.' I told him, shuffling towards where he was sitting,

'o, I didn't know you knew how to do that,' he said, questioningly,

'yeah, when I was younger I used that to help any pain I had, it helped a lot.' I continued.

'Valenta, the girl I'm living with, she's coming to pick us up, when we get home, I can call a tow truck.' he put his arm around me, pulling me closer. Looking up at him, I noticed his head had been cut, quite badly. I lifted my hand to it, using the lights around me, bright yellows and oranges. They glowed around my hand, then disappeared as if they were never there. His head looked a lot better, the bleeding had stopped and the wound had shrunk to a minor scar.

'your strong, not many people know how to do things like that, it takes years of training,' he said, stroking my hair. We waited for a half hour, using each other for heat, I was to tired to use the lights to help.

We heard the hum of the engine before we saw it creeping down the hill. It stopped in front of us, a deep blue Mercedes.

'Are all of you rich?' I asked, getting into the back of the car,

'The council pays well, besides, we don't have much to spend it on, food and drink, a place to live, anything else we don't bother with.' Valenta told me, her voice soft and gentle, I could just about hear her.

It didn't take long to get home, well, back to Mikey's. We pulled up outside a tiny house. It had few rooms, no lights were on.

We walked towards the house. Just as we stepped onto the porch steps, a rustling from the bushes stopped us. Mikey turned around, scanning the hedge. He turned back towards me and Valenta, but I wasn't paying attention, I saw what was hiding, I saw though every little twig and leaf, I saw the being holding crossbow, aiming it right at me, direct to my heart. The tip of the arrow catching the light, I traced the bow back to the being. It had huge fangs, like Jay had, his ears were sitting on the side of his head, like a pixie. His bright red eyes shone in the sunlight. He crept forwards, all the time never taking his eyes off me. I felt hands pulling me back but I stood firmly, unable to move.

'hello, princess!' it spoke to me, then it fired, straight at me, its path uninterrupted, its route murderous.


	6. Discovering Evil

The arrow pierced the air in front of it, in slow motion I could see it spinning. Lights floated around me, deep red colours. Time seemed to freeze, Mikey and Valenta both stood still, and I called upon the light around me, a shield started to form, taking no time to cover me. The arrow hit the shield with force, almost breaking though, falling to the floor, red from the heat of the shield. I glanced up at the being again, but it had disappeared, no trace, except the arrow, that it had been there, spying on us.

I sat down on the floor, regaining the strength I used. Valenta went into the house, whilst Mikey sat down beside me.

'I thought that was it, that, well.' he stopped mid sentence,

'why me?' I simply asked,

'they don't know of your power yet, and send their peasants to get rid of you, so that you don't spread the word, but now.' he trailed off again. I knew what he was thinking, they now know what I can do, I know what I can do.

'Mikey, I believe you, about, well, everything. I mean, no normal human can do what I just did, can they?'

'no, not many other beings can either, we should trace your family tree, see if we can find out where this power came from.' we sat in silence for a couple more minutes, then Valenta joined us, and invited us in.

The house was massive on the inside, doors led to rooms everywhere. We walked straight though, and she pointed to the bathroom. Mikey went in, and I quickly followed. This room was on the small side, just enough room to move around with Mikey in there as well. I sat down on the toilet, while Mikey wet a cloth. He started cleaning my wound, the blood on the cloth told me how bad it was. Once he had finished cleaning it, he sprayed it with something,

'It helps with the healing,' he told me, again reading my mind. Once he had cleaned me up, he turned and squatted down, his face inline with mine.

'I don't know what I would have done if that arrow had of hit you today,' he started, 'you've only just got to know who you truly are, to have that taken away so soon, I should have protected you more. First thing, you are going to start self defence, I cant face to loose you now, not after it was so close,' he stopped, looking deep into my eyes. His hands moved hair off my face, feeling there way down to my neck. We sat there, looking into each other for what seemed like hours. I noticed all his beauty, the way his hair flowed onto his face from his head, his dark eyes showing no secrets, his perfect skin, unmarked, except for the scar.

'I'm, sorta, I'm really, just, really confused at the moment,' I finally said,

'I understand, but, when your ready, you know,'

'yeah, I get you,' I said, awkwardly coming to a standing position. We walked out of the bathroom, and I followed him into what apparently was the kitchen. It was a rectangle shape, with an island in the middle. He went straight to the fridge, and came out with two diet sodas. He passed one to me and led me though to what was a dining room. We sat at the table, and were soon joined by Valenta and Felix.

'heard you got yourselves into a bit of a situation,' Felix started,

'it didn't seem like immediate danger, well, not the crash.' Mikey looked down at the table,

'Why am I a target for these people?' I asked Felix,

'because, your new, they eliminate the weakest first. Unlucky for them, your not so weak.' he muttered the last part,

'your strength intrigues us greatly.' Valenta told me, 'you have so much to learn, but so do we. We must start on your family history as soon as possible.' the thought of my family made me shiver, the pain that I was put though.

'I have no problem with you looking through my mothers history, its my father I have a problem with,' I told them,

'Why? What's special about your father?' Felix asked, coldly,

'I know he was a 'witch' or other being as you call them, but, up until now, I thought it was normal witch craft, now your saying that its hereditary, that i am to be just like him?'

'That's the thoughts we have.' Felix said. A young girl entered the room, whispered something to Felix, then left.

'Ladies and vampire, I'm afraid you must excuse me, the being that attacked you before has been apprehended, I am to attend the questioning,' he said, leaving his seat,

'Wait, I want to see him' I almost demanded,

'I'm afraid that's not possible, your less than a minor, a beginner at best, you cannot be involved with such tasks,'

'Felix, I think she might be a good thing to have at this questioning,' Mikey said, also pushing his chair back so he stood,

'Your opinion is important, you know that, but I simply cannot allow anyone to be present,'

'She's not just anyone, she's strong, you might need her,' Mikey's determination to get me into the meeting was a success, within twenty minutes I was stood against a wall in the cell that contained the being.

He was just as I remembered, pointed ears, sharp teeth, his bright red eyes still shone. He was thrown forward, onto the floor in front of Felix.

'why have you come here?' he asked, firmly,

'to kill' is replied,

'who?' Mikey asked,

'the girl,' he said, looking up at me,

'don't look at his eyes, they contain hypnotising poison,' Mikey whispered to me, and I looked away,

'Why?' Felix asked, sounding impatient,

'we know who she is, we have been tracking her for months,'

'why is he talking, I mean, a spy shouldn't talk should he?' I asked Mikey in a whisper,

'He has been given a drug, to make him talk, otherwise, no he wouldn't,' I nodded a response, feeling no guilt, he had tried to kill me I repeated to myself,

'_now your killing me' _a voice came to me,

'_who is this?' _I thought,

'_Vernas_' it replied

'_the being_?' I asked again,

'_yes, the one you are killing_,'

'_get out of my head!_' I yelled in my head, grabbing hold of black lights that had started floating around my head. I felt a force in them, closing in on me, getting tighter. I started to suffocate, my breath getting weaker. I felt hands around me, pulling me out of the room, but the black light followed me.

'Rachel?' I heard Mikey cry. I could no longer see anything, the black light surrounded my head. I cried out in pain, my head felt like a massive amount of pressure was on it.

As I fell to the floor, words started flowing around me, carrying white light. They broke up the black light, it was scattered in many directions. I felt the floor beneath me, as cold as the black light. I lay there, listening to the words, shivering.

'Rachel!' I heard and felt the voice. Mikey picked me up and held me close to him. 'I thought I had lost you,' I could see a tear form in his eye, it trickled down his face and fell onto my hand. The warmth from it flew though my whole body. My head fell against his chest, my eyes struggling to stay open. I felt myself being lifted, I could hear footsteps carrying me upstairs. The softness underneath me told me that I was placed on a bed, and without a second thought about telling someone where I was, I fell asleep.


	7. Growing Up

I awoke the next day, drained of energy. I carefully sat up in bed, observing my surroundings.

The room was simple, a bed, a wardrobe, a chest, a lamp stand in the corner. Pictures on the wall were that of other beings, werewolves, vampires, witches, demons. I noticed clothes on the end of my bed, and wondering if I should wear them or not, still deciding, I got up and went in search of someone I knew. The corridor went on for ages, it seemed never ending. Each time I came to a door, I found it was locked, so I moved on. Finally I came to a staircase, after a lot of thought, I went down it, hoping that I would find someone down there.

I travelled down a few floors, not knowing where I was now, and walked down another corridor. This time, when I came to a door, it was open. I walked in, and in front of me stood hundreds of prison cells.

I wondered along, noticing all the cells so far where empty. I walked for about five minutes, and finally came across a prisoner,

'hello princess!' Vernas spat out. Unable to move or speak, I just stood there, 'what? Got nothing to say to me today, after witnessing what I was put though yesterday, I didn't get these burns cooking, your lovely boyfriend did this, because of you!'

'no!' I yelled,

'yes, it was all your fault, but if you let me go, I promise I wont hurt you or him, I shall return to where I came,' I cut him off,

'stop it! Stop getting inside my head,' I screamed,

'if your as strong as they say, you could block me, but of course your just an immature little girl trying to save the world,'

'I can block you, I'm not immature,' I told him, my hands shaking with fear,

'prove it!' I stood there, now he had me, how was I meant to show him something I knew I didn't know how to do.

'well princess?' he pushed himself against the railings,

'why were you told to kill me?' I asked, diverting the conversation,

'you know why, your strong, so they think, just imagine their faces when I tell them your false, that will be fun, that will make my very happy.' he started chuckling to himself.

'how long have to you been following me?' I asked, shaking less by my confidence,

'a few months, waste of time though, could have been hunting real witches,'

'who sent you?'

'I cant tell you that, I didn't even tell your boyfriend that,'

'he's not my boyfriend, why cant you tell me?'

'he acts like he is,'

'stop changing the conversation!' I yelled,

'you seem to be getting stressed, why are you down here? No one ever comes down here, not unless they come with orders to kill me, no one ever talks to me unless I have that poison in me, tasted like crap that did,' he started muttering to himself under his breath. I thought quickly for a reason that I was down here, I refused to tell him I got lost, although there was no real point, as I was doing this, a piercing alarm went off. Panicking, I ran the opposite way I came, running faster than I thought I could. I found a locked door at the end, wishing it were open. I stood there, hearing voices from down the hall. I turned to face the lock again, gathering the green lights from around me. They flowed into the lock, compressing to form a key shape, I reached out, touching the light, which had turned solid. I quickly turned it, and ran through the door. I came to a courtyard, with walls twenty foot high. I stood in the middle of the square, thinking of a way out, or a reason for me to be down here. I heard the voices coming closer and closer. I started making my own voices, flowing with the green lights. I felt a sharp pain in my back, by my shoulder blades. I collapsed on the floor, wrapping myself in orange lights, unaware of what was happening to me. The pain seem to vanish, and as I stood up, I noticed something was different, I felt a draft behind me, as I spun, the draft moved, it was always behind me. I turned my head, hoping that it wouldn't move again.

Then I saw them, my wings. They were a beautiful silver colour, with gold tints. It took me a short while to learn how to use them, once I had, I flapped hard, feeling my feet leave the ground. Soon I could see over the wall, then I was on the wall, looking around. I heard the footsteps run close to the door, then I dived, off the wall, into the valley that stood behind the house. I looked back, seeing what was a castle on the inside, only a small two bed roomed house with falling apart walls.

I glided over the tops of trees, no longer looking back. I heard nothing, except the wind flowing over me. I saw the road by the river, where I had almost crashed with Mikey yesterday. I flew down, landing just about on the bank. I walked through the woods, stopping just behind a tree, waiting for a gang of guys to pass, I didn't want to explain the silver wings on my back to Mikey let alone anyone else.

As I waited, I thought about explaining this to him, he would be looking for me now, I needed to tell him where I was, but I hated the idea of him being disappointed that I ran off. The thoughts spun around my head for the next half hour, then I heard it.

'Rachel!' it was Mikey's voice, I jumped up and looked around, he was walking straight towards me, with one of those looks that I just knew was not a good thing,

'Can I ask what the hell happened?' he yelled, still a few metres away from me,

'I, erm, I, have no idea,' I managed to stutter out,

'you better get some idea, Felix is going mad back at the house, I havent seen him like this since, well, it doesn't matter, look he's mad enough you went exploring without asking, never mind that you spoke to the prisoner, after what you went though, I thought you would have more sense.'

'Hey, I didn't have a clue what happened to me, I was shit scared, got it! I went looking for you, the only room I could get in was the prison cell, ok maybe I shouldn't have spoken to him, but I wanted to know why he was going to kill me,' I threw the last words out, Mikey's face changed, he no longer seemed mad or angry, he had calmed down,

'I know its a lot to take in,'

'No, no you don't, you have no idea whats going though my head, I have power, and it scares me, its too much, all of this, I want out, I don't want this any more,'

'we cant just take power off you, its not even heard of, besides, don't you want them wings off you first,' he said, holding back a smile. I looked down, upset and angry, I never wanted to fight with Mikey, it was just too scary, everything that was happening. 'I told Chris that you were staying the night at mine, just so you know.' he told me, sounding calmer than he looked, 'I thought that might sound better than the truth,' he walked over to me,

'I don't want this any more, the things that have happened over the last 24 hours, they scare me,' I said as he brought me close to him,

'I cant promise things will get better, I don't know that, all I do know is that I will protect you as much as I can,' I looked up at him, his face had changed, he now looked calm, his eyes explored mine, his lips slightly raised at the corners. We stood there for a short while, then, after I removed my wings, he took me home, where I went straight to sleep,'


End file.
